With the top fleet stacked with the world’s fastest kite racers the battles at the Formula Kite World Championships in Oman just got a lot fiercer in awesome conditions that provided a perfect stage for the riders’ supreme athleticism.

France’s Nico Parlier dominated in breezes that freshened and hovered between 9 and 11 knots for much of the day off Muscat’s Al Mouj Beach on the Gulf of Oman, framed by a dramatic mountain backdrop.

On smooth waters, Parlier was pushed all the way by his friend and countryman Axel Mazella – who managed to overhaul his rival in race one – and Britain’s Olly Bridge. Often with just metres between them, the three had thrillingly-close finishes after high speed sub-eight minute laps of the race track.

In the women’s fleet, the reigning International Kiteboarding Association (IKA) Formula Kite World Champion Daniela Moroz, from the US, showed she is human after all when she missed out on winning two of today’s five races. The 16-year-old’s superiority on the leaderboard is so dominant however, that a second and third place, plus a hat-trick of wins, was enough to cement her top spot.

The epic day at the 2017 IKA Formula Kite World Championships, hosted by Oman Sail with associate sponsor Al Mouj Muscat, was marked by fractious drama on the water when reigning IKA Formula Kite World Champion Maxime Nocher, from Monaco, collided with a number of other riders while on port tack.

The incident, the subject of a number of protest hearings in the jury room, forced the USA’s Riley Gibbs and France’s Theo Lhostis, to withdraw from racing for the rest of the day. Nocher also changed out of his wetsuit and pulled out of the fray for the remainder of the day.

Day three of the championship saw the leading riders divided into gold, silver and bronze fleets for the two-day finals series, seeded on the basis of the opening exchanges in the qualifiers. Day five of the competition, dedicated to a medal series, will pit the top 10 men against one another for the crown and the spoils.

On the basis of Parlier’s near-peerless day, riding on his biggest 19m kite, he would appear to be in the box seat for the title. At one time, Parlier struggled in lighter breezes that perhaps favoured lighter rivals, but he now appears to have mastery of all conditions.

“It’s definitely been a little bit tighter today,” said Parlier. “It’s mostly between me and Axel Mazella as usual, but now that we’re competing with Olly Bridge and some other good riders, it changes everything.”

As overnight leader, Bridge, who had been competing in a different fleet in the opening qualifying series, knew he would have his work cut out for him with the French duo in the mix. He finished in second place on the leaderboard, splitting the pair.

“It’s definitely been more difficult today,” he said. “But I’m getting better. Nico Parlier is just very, very fast. Upwind, downwind, everywhere. But with Axel Mazella, I’m quite close, so I am happy with things.”

From the press report it sounds like Maxime Nocher was on port and collided with Riley and Theo. The twitter feed said there were injuries but it isn't mentioned above so perhaps it wasn't too bad. Both Riley and Theo had been doing very well ..

The races are under ten minutes each and the race committee seems very good at keeping things going.

Overall Nico is dominating in very tight racing with Olly and Axel right on his heels.

In case anyone is interested, the protest decisions at the end of each day are posted. There were 25 protests today which is not really unusual in an event like this. The protest committee can award redress to a victim of a foul and then give them the average score of their other races, and of course they can penalize the guilty party.

Julien Kerner was right behind and witnessed the incident and filed a protest. Here is his protest against Maxime (number 2). Theo and Riley (number 80 and 63) were both injured and Theo needed stitches.:

I want to protest for a dangerous sailing from number 2.
80 and 63 were starboard overlay line in front of me out of the zone.
I saw number 2 arriving port and literally full crash into 80 and 63.
It's the first time I see that big crash in kiteboarding and we definitely do not want to see such a
dangerous sailing.
My two friend are severely injured and it's not acceptable.
Thank you for your strong applying of rules and understanding.
Best regards
julien.